In one conventional form, a cooking apparatus, such as a range, includes an upper cabinet having an oven cavity and a subjacent stove portion having an oven cavity and surface burner units. A separate hood is commonly mounted above the upper cabinet including a blower for exhausting heated air. However, such a blower arrangement does not adequately draw air away from rear surface burner units.
Additionally, electrical controls for the upper oven cavity are located within the upper cabinet. Heat produced in the upper oven, as well as heat radiating from the stove portion can create problems for control components, particularly when the upper oven cavity comprises a microwave oven range. Therefore, an additional problem results in having to reduce the temperature within the upper oven cabinet to prevent thermal degradation of the control components.
Another problem in such control units is that when the upper oven is not being utilized, it may be necessary to exhaust air from the upper cabinet due to heat transferred thereto from the subjacent surface burner units, particularly those in the rear. Conventionally, this problem is solved by manually turning on an exhaust fan or by manually initiating operation of the oven itself.
The present invention overcomes these problems of prior cooking devices, in a novel and simple manner.